The Darkest night
by KillTheVampire
Summary: I wanted to find myself, find love and maybe a place to call home, instead I found something unexpected...


Chapter 1:First encounter

Since I was young I never felt like I belonged. I always felt lost, alone. I felt estranged from my family and they from me. I didn't talk much for fear of alienation or criticism, and no one talked to me or even tried.

My mother was an alcoholic, my father a compulsive liar. My sister had run away years ago, when she was only 12 and here I was still. I had plenty of opportunities to leave, but I decided to stay. I had nowhere else to go and I was financially crippled for the most part. I was bound to this family, this house by hook and nail. I felt like this is where my fate began and ended like a room with and entrance but no exit. This was it for me.

School was sanctity for me. Here no one knew who I was aside from the dimly colored cover of a novel. Here I could bury my worries and emotions behind a good lesson.

I kept any and all relevant emotions to myself, buried away for me to pick through later in the privacy of my own home because I didn't want to be labeled as weak or feeble by my peers. I constantly told myself that I didn't care about what others thought of me, but deep down a part of me wanted to be accepted, wanted to be held to the same standards. The other part of me was an individualist, confident in my abilities and uncaring of others personal opinions.

Aside from the social turmoil, I enjoyed school for the most part because here I was just a teenager like the rest of them. There was some subtle differences between us, but all in all we all were adolescents just looking for somewhere to belong, me more so.

My locker was on the far corner of the school, engulfed in the darkness that the far corner of anything would provoke. Sometimes I just stood, locker door open and reading before class.

"Hey Riley!" I heard a girl yell. I didn't consider her a friend, just an associate who had a strange and unnecessary interest in me.

"Um...hey," I said, burying my face further into the book. I never liked being interrupted.

"Did you hear?" She said, pushing the book down from in front of my face and with her hand, obstructing my view of the words on the page. I was annoyed, but her sweet appearance and child like voice was enough to make me listen. She always kept her hair tied in a neat brown braid that fell just below her shoulder blades. Her light brown freckles seemed to disappear in the darkness, but her bright blue eyes seemed to break through the shadows. Her eyes were the focal point of her face and sometimes I caught myself staring.

"Hear what?" I responded.

"The series of vampire attacks. It was on the news today," She said, pushing my locker shut, I sighed.

"You can't believe everything you hear on the news Kim. They tell you things to scare you and cause local and global chaos," I said, leaning into the corner. I held my book up to my face again. "Besides, vampires don't exist"

"Just last night a girl our age was bitten. The next morning they couldn't find her. She had disappeared into the night or so her mother said in an interview. I believe it," She said, smiling mischievously. "I'd like to find that vampire. Just to meet him or her and ask a few questions. Where is he from? What blood type does he prefer? You know..."

"That's ridiculous. Say these vampires do bite. What would keep it from biting you and instead have tea and answer questions," I said, throwing my backpack onto my back and starting down the hallway. She followed behind.

"The difference is I'll talk to him. I wont be scared like i'm sure that girl was. Do you wanna come with?" She asked stepping in front of me, halting my footsteps. I nearly fell.

"No, but have fun with that," I said stepping ahead of her. I wasn't going to let her make me late for class because of some nonsense vampire tale.

"See you in class," she shouted behind me.

When I got home later that day, a newspaper was waiting for me on my porch and in big bold letters read "Vampires Attack Bitter Springs" how ironic. I tossed the paper on the couch and went upstairs. I wouldn't let that convince me anymore than Kim had. If this was life's way of sending me a sign, I wasn't going to take the bait. Vampires simply did not exist. They only existed in my books and my thoughts.

I thought about going downstairs to read the article I so carelessly tossed to the side, but convinced myself otherwise. I didn't want to get sucked into the social brainwashing of "news".

As much as I wanted to forget the whole ordeal with Kim, I couldn't bring myself to let it go. I wanted to research and find out myself, go deep within the history of Bitter Springs. If vampires did exist and were attacking Bitter Springs peaceful residents, I wanted to know and I wanted to know everything. I grabbed my laptop and began the search. I did find that it was once believed that vampires once occupied this small town back in the 1200's, but were considered myths by most, if not all the people that lived here. Another study suggested that there were clues to vampires existence including things like discovered bones, artifacts and other historical items. I wasn't convinced. I needed to know more.

"I can't be this stupid..." I said, grabbing my tennis shoes from the floor. I was going to go to Kim's house and take her up on that offer of hers. I had a sudden urge to know exactly what was going on in this town.

I snuck out the back door even though my mother hadn't been home in 2 days and God knows where my father was. It was like this most of the time, but it didn't bother me much. I had gotten used to it, grown comfortable with it.

When I arrived at Kim's door, she looked surprised to see me.

"Riley? What are you doing here? Are you sick?" She asked, putting her hand on my forehead. I smacked it away..

"I wanna go find some vampires..." I said looking down and scratching my head when there was actually no itch present. I wasn't usually one to open up myself to others but I guess there was a first for everything.

"Yes! I knew you would come around!" She said. "Let me grab my coat."

"Yea Yea, well hurry. Its getting dark out here," I said, pulling my jacket up over my shoulders. I felt like I was making a really bad decision, but I didn't care. All I ever did was sit around and wait for opportunities to come to me. I was always so bound by my parents lack of parenting that I kept my guard up with the fear of letting someone else in. Today I was gonna be normal...

"Alright lets go! I can't wait, maybe we'll find some real live vampires!" Kim shouted. I put my hand over her mouth.

"Why so loud? Come on lets just go," I said, stepping off of her porch. I wasn't exactly sure what we were going to do, but I actually kind of looked forward to it.

"So Riley, what's up with you?" Kim asked.

"What do you mean," I said. I knew what she meant, but didn't want to admit that something was different about me.

"You know with the whole coming to my house thing. Your the most anti social girl in school. I'm the only one that actually tries to get along with you, not that I don't want to you know. It's just irregular for you," she said. I felt kind of selfish for not considering Kim as a friend. She obviously tried to get to know me more than anyone else I knew. I admired that in her. Despite my personality she still talked to me and considered me as a friend.

"Yea... well it doesn't matter the reason. Lets just go find these vampires," I said walking ahead. I wanted to let her, or anyone in at this point, but I just wasn't comfortable with myself yet to do so. Not just yet.

"Okay well lets see what we can find," Kim said. I felt like I was a kid again, playing detective although I never actually played detective when I was younger. I just read books about it.

I didn't think we actually planned on finding anything , especially not as late as it was becoming. The sky darkened to a dark blue and I was getting tired. We had walked back and forth around the neighborhood for what seemed like hours and no sign of anything unusual.

"I think we've done enough looking for one day," I said. Kim seemed to be just as enthusiastic as she was when we first started.

"For you maybe," She said.

"Well I'm gonna head home. Parents are probably worried sick," I said sarcastically.

"Okay seeya at school tomorrow," She said, heading off somewhere.

"Wait where are you gonna go? Shouldn't you be getting home too?" I called to her retreating form. She disappeared into the densely vegetated wooded area just behind our neighborhood. It wasn't a wise decision on her part, but I wasn't going to follow. If my dad had even noticed I was gone he had to have been looking for me or at least wondering where I was.

The next day, Kim didn't show up at school. I had never noticed before yesterday the days Kim did, or didn't show up in class, but today was different because I was with her that previous night. I couldn't help but to think that something happened to her.

I stood by my open locker reading like I always did, but today something didn't seem right. It was as if Kim's absence had disrupted my entire routine.

"Randilyn we need to have a talk with you," I heard a deep voice say. No one had ever called me by my real name before Except my mother, so I knew something was wrong. I was afraid to look up because I suddenly got that gut feeling. That terrible gut feeling that signified that something was terribly wrong.

"Yes?" I asked. Two tall men in blue looked down at me, both with uneasy looks on their faces. I felt like a criminal all of a sudden.

"We have to ask you some questions so we'll have to get you to come down to the station with us," The officer said. My heart dropped in my chest.

"About what?" I asked.

"A close friend of yours disappeared last night. Her parents said that she was last seen with you," he said.

"You don't think it was me that did something to her do you?" I asked. I was sometimes insensitive and a bit grouchy at times, but I was no murderer.

"If you would follow us please," the second officer said. I didn't notice before, but suddenly everyone was interested in me. They stood at their lockers, mouths agape and some even crowded around as I was marched out like a criminal. I could feel my face redden with shame and embarrassment. Why me?

At the police station Kim's parents and my parents were already waiting there. It was a shame that it took a situation like this to get my parents to show some interest in me, not to mention I hadn't seen the two together in physical form since I was 6 or 7.

"What did you do to my baby? What did you do to her?" Her mom yelled as I walked into view. The man who I presumed was her husband held her at bay. I looked down at the ground as we walked inside. I had done nothing wrong, but there was something deep down inside of me that put me at fault. I always felt that way.

"Mrs calm down," one of the officers said helping her into a seat. My parents hadn't even acknowledged me yet. They hadn't even looked in my direction until I was standing directly underneath them.

"We're just going to ask her a few questions in the back. Until then you two can have a seat, there's coffee in the waiting area," the officer stated. I was then guided to the back and into a room like the ones so heavily exemplified in TV shows. There was dim light just above the small table in the middle of the room, two chairs on either side. I went in a took a seat. A man stepped in behind me.

"How are you Randilyn?" He said. He wore a loose fitting whit button up shirt, black slacks and shiny shoes. He wore his badge proudly.

"After all this? Not too great..." I responded. "I just want to get this over with so that I can go."

"Understandable. We didn't mean to startle you with this whole thing, but we feel as though your the one that can give us some answers." He said. His kind face made me feel more at ease. His hair was short, almost bald and he had dimples that appeared each time he spoke.

"Your making me feel like a criminal. Why did I have to come here to answer questions?" I asked.

"Well we felt as though this was a more appropriate setting. Don't worry you'll be out of here in no time," He said, finally sitting down.

"Well what do you want to know?" I asked.

"You were last seen with Kim weren't you?" He asked.

"Yes I was. Does that make me a criminal?" I said.

"No, but your parents say that you never once showed an interest in anyone, no friends, no associates no anything. It just makes your encounter with Kim a little strange," He said. It was looking like my decision to finally open up to Kim was backfiring on me. How ironic.

"My parents know nothing about me. Kim was an exception. She actually showed some interest in me...well unlike anyone else ever had," I said, fiddling with my fingers. I immediately stopped when I realized what I was doing. Detectives looked at small things like that when they were trying to prosecute.

"Is that right. Well I find that strange because from what Kim's parents say she described you as a anti social lunatic with no regard for other peoples feelings." He said. My heart skipped a beat. Why would Kim say those things about me?

"Well...I mean I thought we were friends. She always said I was weird but never those things...never those things you said," I said on the verge of tears. This all felt like a nightmare.

"Where did you two go that afternoon?" He asked.

"We just went around the neighborhood, but when I was ready to go she wasn't. She ran off into the woods by herself." I put my hand on my head. "I know I should have followed her but..."

"If she was a friend you would have tried to stop her. You would have gone after her or told her mother." He said.

"Yes, but I wasn't thinking...I...I just didn't think it was that serious," I said, trying to hold the tears back. "Can I go now? Please I don't want to be here anymore..."

"Yes, we're done here." he said. When he left the room I found myself breaking into tears.

That night I couldn't sleep. I tossed and turned in bed each time an image of Kim, of her parents flooded my brain. I felt responsible for what had happened to her and I felt obligated to find her or risk being labeled a possible suspect.

"Don't wait up for me..." I said to myself. I grabbed a pair pants, a t shirt, some tennis shoes and my jacket. I examined the drop from my window to the soft grass below and visually determined if the drop was possible for me. It didn't matter anyway.

I grabbed onto the ledge first getting a good foothold on a loose brick. I took a deep breath and allowed myself to drop, but remained aware that I needed to fall right to avoid injury. I tucked my body under and rolled just as I hit the ground. I ended up getting a couple of deep scratches, but nothing serious.

I ran all the way to where I had last seen Kim and although hesitant, I swallowed hard and journeyed into the dark and wooded area. I could barely see because my only source of light was the dimly lit moon that only seemed to brighten certain areas. I tried to stay within those areas.

"K...Kim...are you there?" I found myself calling. The only thing that responded were the birds that, at the sound of my voice, flew away in flocks. I ducked, shielding my head. I hadn't wandered that far into the woods yet, but was already starting to get a little scared. I didn't know what was out here and wondered if I was naive for coming out here in the first place.

"I"m so stupid..." I said. "Stupid, stupid, stupid."

I turned to go back. I hadn't done much of anything and the effort I put toward finding Kim was close to none, but I was worthless at this point. There wasn't anything I could do.

I started back, but the sound of dirt crumbling under a foot halted my retreat. I turned.

"Kim?" I said. When I turned, a shadow engulfed me suddenly and just as quick as it came it was gone again. Startled I began to run. Something was out there and my lack of night vision put me at a disadvantage. I kept running, breath erratic, footsteps clumsy.I felt something grabbed me from behind...


End file.
